Ghost Town
Season Twelve Episode Seven Preceded by: Season Twelve, Episode Six: They Read Her Freaking Letter Followed by: Season Twelve, Episode Eight: Rewind Summary : The party regroups in the morning before their journey to Caltris's Rock. They have a quick discussion of tactics for the approach. The djinn will carry them to the island, but they'll still have to get to the address from the letter. Aether wants to "just barrel in" (barrel provided), while Leilah wants to scout with Wind Walk a bit before. She says that the weather will remain clear for most of the day, then turn foggy, so there should be no high winds to impede this method of travel. Eventually the party decides to be set down by the djinni on the docks, then walk to the address on Haverstad Road. : Ashra scouts as the djinni carries them through the air. To the south of the island, by the docks, most of the buildings are new and surprisingly intact. There is a body lying on the docks, but on closer inspection he does not appear to be dead. He is almost sunbathing. The whole island appears to have suffered minimal damage from the Awakening, with only a few fissure cracks in the whole Rock. Magic or geology could have stopped them, it isn't clear. Rocks dominate one area of the island, creating a great no-man's-land. That area appears more affected by the massive earthquakes. One large building appears to be an ancient temple, about 500 years old. It seems Pelorian in style, but bears no explicit religious symbols and could have just been a government building. : The party lands near the docks, and greets the man. He is extremely drunk, and Ashra recognizes him as Valera Oak III, though this instance of Valera has never met Ashra. The explanation of "a you will have going to have met this me" is smoothed over by Ashra's gift of some fine alcohol she was carrying around, and Valera groggily joins the party. Aether takes him under her wing. : The road leads the party past many abandoned houses. They come upon a well; Ashra looks down it, but there is nothing special there. : Ashra thinks she sees a spark near one house, and points it out to the rest of the party. The shutters have been nailed shut, and great animal scratches mar the door. It is a five-sided house, very unusual for the time. The path between the well and the house has the party's footprints, foreign footprints, and some palm prints. : Ashra listens at the door and hears a fluttering of wings or leaves. She peers in the lock and sees a man in a dark cloak with piercing yellow eyes. He looks at her for a moment, then disappears. In his wake she sees only moonlight and smudges of blood on the floor. : Aether asks for a turn, and peers through the lock herself. She sees a shimmer of pure white light. It fades. : Leilah argues that the party should leave this all alone and move on, but others in the party want to investigate, so they force the door. Inside is a small five-sided room, smudged with blood. Cicero smells vodka, and Ashra feels sick. A Detect Magic spell reveals strong necromancy and enchantment. : There is a pentagram inscribed in the floor. When examined in a Mirror, many unholy symbols including skulls and snakes glow inside the pentagram. Someone notices that the floor is hollow, and breaks through; underneath is another small room, with a dresser containing folded clothing. : Ashra and Aether begin to feel very ill. Aether starts to be able to reach through things. Ashra asks permission to try something on Aether, and uses her last cast of Dimensional Anchor on her. Aether becomes fully solid again, but Ashra continues to fade. : Frightened, she begs Leilah for help. Leilah asks Cicero for the Ceremonial Dagger of Mortification from party loot. She discovers that it can still cut Ashra, though most other things pass through her. Ashra is not willing to allow Leilah to break the dagger off inside her, however. A few other divine spells are unable to help, and Leilah eventually shrugs. Ashra asks Fab Dick to cast Dimensional Anchor on her, but he isn't willing to do so. He starts fading as well. : Ashra looks at the hole to the basement and sees instead a massive, bottomless pit. It begins calling her by name, summoning her to Hell. The voice doesn't particularly sound like Xenteroth, so she tells it she's not interested. Then she becomes fully a ghost. She retains her lantern, Ethan's symbol, and her mirror; all her other things fall to the ground and are carried for her by the party. Leilah insists the party get a move on. : They leave the house and move on down the street, Ashra floating behind and Fab D still fading. They walk on through more houses before eventually reaching the building. : 1846 Haverstad Road is part of a complex of three buildings of equal size, all surrounded by a high wall with a single gate. Leilah uses the Shatterspike on the gate, and the party approaches the building. The door opens easily, revealing a dusty antechamber and a large, empty research room with several stone dissection slabs. Leilah asks Ashra to use her etherealness to explore the building, and remarks that Ghost might not be a bad template for her. Fab Dick gets frustrated with his own journey towards ghosthood, tests Dimensional Anchor on Ashra, then casts it on himself. Both are returned to fully mortal and material, and the party returns Ashra's equipment. : Some searching of the area reveals that the third dissection slab is hollow. Aether, Ashra, and Cicero take out crowbars and pry it off of its base. It reveals a dark stone staircase. This leads down to a slab of rock, on which is carved a long series of cyphered letters... Category:Episodes Category:Season Twelve Episodes